1
Anthropology of Latin America
COURSE HANDBOOK
2015-16
Semester 2
Lectures: Fridays, 1110-1300
Seminar Room 4, Chrystal MacMillan Building
Tutorials: Group 1 Tuesdays, 1000-1050 (LG.08, David Hume Tower)
Group 2 Tuesday, 1310-1400 (Seminar Room 4, Chrystal MacMillan Building)
Anthropologists working in Latin America have been at the forefront of the discipline’s
theorization of racial and economic inequality, the culture of politics, and urban life. Latin
America has also been a site for major studies of social change, including civil war,
migration, and economic globalization. This course will provide you with an introduction to
the major themes and debates in the anthropology of Latin America. Through a close
reading and discussion of ethnographic works, films, music, and other media, students in
the course will become familiar with the breadth of languages, religions, political
formations, and cultural systems of the area. Particular attention will be paid to recent
interests among anthropologists in urban life, violence, religious syncretism, environmental
politics, sexuality, and social movements.
Course Lecturers
Dr Alex Nading (alex.nading@ed.ac.uk)
4.10 Chrystal MacMillan Building
Guidance and Feedback Hours: Tuesdays 1-3 pm
Dr Maya Mayblin (maya.mayblin@ed.ac.uk)
5.06 Chrystal MacMillan Building
Guidance and Feedback Hours:
Course Secretary
Lizzie Robertson (sps-team2@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk)
Undergraduate Teaching Office, Ground Floor, Chrystal MacMillan
Building
Assessment
Assessment
weighting
Submission Date (all course
Return of Feedback
work is due at 12 noon on
date
the date of submission)
Essay 1
20%
Thursday 18th February
Thursday 10th March
Essay 2
80%
Monday 4th April
Monday 25th April
Note: All course work is submitted electronically through ELMA. Please read the School
Policies and Coursework Submission Procedures document for important information
on submission procedures and assessment polices.
2
Handbook Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Aims and Learning Outcomes
Lectures and Seminars
Assessment
Communications
Timetable, Course Details and Readings
Suggested Book List
1. Aims, Learning Outcomes and Learning Resources
AIMS
This course will provide you with a working knowledge of the major debates and key works
in the anthropology of Latin America, with a particular focus on the past 20 to 30 years. A
particular aim of the course is to provide you with an understanding of the different ways in
which life in the region has been “mediated” through literature, food, film, music, and other
kinds of cultural productions. It will also offer a geographically focused examination of race,
indigenous identity, violence, sexuality, religion, and urbanization.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On completion of this course, you will be able to:
1. Understand Latin America’s place in the global economy from a socio-cultural
perspective.
2. Demonstrate an ability to critically evaluate films, music, and other kinds of media
using the tools of social theory
3. Have an advanced understanding of the dynamics of religious conversion and
syncretism.
4. Analyse violence as a structural, symbolic, and everyday phenomenon
5. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the dynamics of sexuality and politics in Latin
America
2. Lectures and Seminar
LECTURE
This course is taught through one 110 minute lecture every week, held in Seminar Room 4,
CMB.
TUTORIALS
Tutorials provide an opportunity for you to discuss your own ideas and your reaction to the
3
readings and lectures. In tutorials, the lecturers will also assist you in the organisation of your
essays.
Each tutorial consists of 10-12 students. Tutorials meet weekly, starting in the second week
of the course.
Preparing for Tutorials
The readings listed under each lecture include a few key readings and a group of
supplementary readings.
The supplementary readings will be touched on in the lecture and will be especially useful in
writing essays.
The minimum expectation is that all students will read the key readings before the lecture in
which the reading will be discussed.
To prepare for tutorials, you must not only complete the key readings but also prepare a oneparagraph personal response to the readings. Your personal response should highlight what
you see as the key argument, the most troubling or interesting points, and a question or two
for group discussion.
GUIDE TO USING LEARN FOR ONLINE TUTORIAL SIGN-UP
The following is a guide to using LEARN to sign up for your tutorial. If you have any problems
using the LEARN sign up, please contact the course secretary by email
(lizzie.robertson@ed.ac.uk)
Tutorial sign up will open on Monday 11th January and will close at 12 noon on the Friday of
Week 1 (15thJanuary).
Step 1 – Accessing LEARN course pages
Access to LEARN is through the MyEd Portal. You will be given a log-in and password during
Freshers’ Week. Once you are logged into MyEd, you should see a tab called ‘Courses’ which
will list the active LEARN pages for your courses under ‘myLEARN’.
Step 2 – Welcome to LEARN
Once you have clicked on the relevant course from the list, you will see the Course Content
page. There will be icons for the different resources available, including one called ‘Tutorial
Sign Up’. Please take note of any instructions there.
Step 3 – Signing up for your tutorial
Clicking on Tutorial Sign Up will take you to the sign up page where all the available tutorial
groups are listed along with the running time and location.
Once you have selected the group you would like to attend, click on the ‘Sign up’ button. A
confirmation screen will display.
4
IMPORTANT: If you change your mind after having chosen a tutorial you cannot go back and
change it and you will need to email the course secretary. Reassignments once tutorials are
full or after the sign-up period has closed will only be made in exceptional circumstances.
Tutorials have restricted numbers and it is important to sign up as soon as possible. The
tutorial sign up will only be available until 12 noon on the Friday of Week 1 (15th January)
so that everyone is registered to a group ahead of tutorials commencing in Week 2. If you
have not yet signed up for a tutorial by this time you will be automatically assigned to a
group which you will be expected to attend.
ACCESS TO READINGS
All book chapters should be available in e-reserve and journal articles are also all available
through e-journals. A few of the readings for the course also make use of online archives that
provide access to works that are out of copyright.
The course reference list is now available through Resource Lists @ Edinburgh, using Talis
Aspire. This can be accessed here or via a link that is available on the LEARN page for the
course.
The reference list includes links to the online resources.
Do browse through the books and periodicals in the Main Library in George Square (mainly
GN or .572, 4th floor), and especially through current, still unbound periodicals (1st Floor
Reading Room).
Where possible refer to the electronic journal versions, and browse electronically – see the
web guide and ejournals list.
LEARNING RESOURCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES
The Study Development Team at the Institute for Academic Development (IAD) provides
resources and workshops aimed at helping all students to enhance their learning skills and
develop effective study techniques. Resources and workshops cover a range of topics, such
as managing your own learning, reading, note making, essay and report writing, exam
preparation and exam techniques.
The study development resources are housed on 'LearnBetter' (undergraduate), part of
Learn, the University's virtual learning environment. Follow the link from the IAD Study
Development web page to enrol: www.ed.ac.uk/iad/undergraduates
Workshops are interactive: they will give you the chance to take part in activities, have
discussions, exchange strategies, share ideas and ask questions. They are 90 minutes long
and held on Wednesday afternoons at 1.30pm or 3.30pm. The schedule is available from
the IAD Undergraduate web page (see above).
Workshops are open to all undergraduates but you need to book in advance, using the
MyEd booking system. Each workshop opens for booking 2 weeks before the date of the
5
workshop itself. If you book and then cannot attend, please cancel in advance through
MyEd so that another student can have your place. (To be fair to all students, anyone who
persistently books on workshops and fails to attend may be barred from signing up for
future events).
Study Development Advisors are also available for an individual consultation if you have
specific questions about your own approach to studying, working more effectively,
strategies for improving your learning and your academic work. Please note, however, that
Study Development Advisors are not subject specialists so they cannot comment on the
content of your work. They also do not check or proof read students' work.
To make an appointment with a Study Development Advisor, email iad.study@ed.ac.uk
(For support with English Language, you should contact the English Language Teaching
Centre).
DISCUSSING SENSITIVE TOPICS
The discipline of Anthropology of Latin America addresses a number of topics that some might
find sensitive or, in some cases, distressing. You should read this Course Guide carefully and
if there are any topics that you may feel distressed by you should seek advice from the course
convenor and/or your Personal Tutor.
For more general issues you may consider seeking the advice of the Student Counselling
Service, http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/student-counselling
3. Assessment
The Degree Examination mark for the course will be based on a combination of:
1) 20% Essay 1: Short written assignment (book review or commentary) 1000 words
2) 80% Essay 2: Long written assignment (choice of essay questions) 4000 words
ASSIGNMENTS
Essay 1, 1000 words:
What does ethnographic research reveal about life in contemporary Latin America? Address
this question in relation to the work of one book length work from the list at the end of this
handbook.
Essay 2, 4000 words:
Questions to guide your approach to Essay 2 will be posted to Learn around week 6 of the
course.
DEADLINES
6
You are required to submit your written work no later than the dates below:
Essay 1, due 12.00 noon on Thursday 18 February 2016. Feedback will be available by 10
March 2016.
Essay 2, due 12.00 noon on Monday 4 April 2016. Feedback will be available by 25 April
2016
In addition, you will have opportunities for feedback through non-assessed exercises in essay
planning that are reviewed by you and your peers during tutorial time.
ELMA: SUBMISSION AND RETURN OF COURSEWORK
Coursework is submitted online using our electronic submission system, ELMA. You will not
be required to submit a paper copy of your work.
Marked coursework, grades and feedback will be returned to you via ELMA. You will not
receive a paper copy of your marked course work or feedback.
For information, help and advice on submitting coursework and accessing feedback, please
see the ELMA wiki at https://www.wiki.ed.ac.uk/display/SPSITWiki/ELMA. Further detailed
guidance on the essay deadline and a link to the wiki and submission page will be available
on the course Learn page. The wiki is the primary source of information on how to submit
your work correctly and provides advice on approved file formats, uploading cover sheets
and how to name your files correctly.
When you submit your work electronically, you will be asked to tick a box confirming that
your work complies with university regulations on plagiarism. This confirms that the work
you have submitted is your own.
Occasionally, there can be technical problems with a submission. We request that you
monitor your university student email account in the 48 hours following the deadline for
submitting your work. If there are any problems with your submission the course secretary
will email you at this stage.
We undertake to return all coursework within 15 working days of submission. This time is
needed for marking, moderation, second marking and input of results. If there are any
unanticipated delays, it is the course organiser’s responsibility to inform you of the reasons.
All our coursework is assessed anonymously to ensure fairness: to facilitate this process put
your Examination number (on your student card), not your name or student number, on
your coursework or cover sheet.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO STUDENTS
7
To ensure your course work is submitted successfully, students should aim to upload their
submissions at least 1 hour before the deadline.
Students are responsible for ensuring they have sufficient internet access and connection to
submit their course work electronically. Technical difficulties and poor internet connection
are not acceptable reasons for submitting work late.
You should monitor your university student email account in the 24 hours following the
deadline for submitting your work. If there are any problems with your submission the
course secretary will email you at this stage.
TECHNICAL PROBLEMS
Occasionally, there can be technical problems with a submission. We request that you
monitor your university student email account in the 24 hours following the deadline for
submitting your work. If there are any problems with your submission the course secretary
will email you at this stage.
ANONYMITY
All our coursework is assessed anonymously to ensure fairness: to facilitate this process put
your Examination number (on your student card), not your name or student number, on your
coursework or cover sheet.
WORD COUNT PENALTIES
Your short essay should be 1000 words (excluding bibliography). Essays above 1000 words
will be penalised using the Ordinary level criterion of 1 mark for every 20 words over length:
anything between 1001 and 1020 words will lose one mark, between 1021 and 1040 two
marks, and so on.
Your long essay should be 4000 words (excluding bibliography). Essays above 4000 words
will be penalised using the Ordinary level criterion of 1 mark for every 20 words over length:
anything between 4001 and 4020 words will lose one mark, between 4021 and 4040 two
marks, and so on.
You will not be penalised for submitting work below the word limit. However, you should note
that shorter essays are unlikely to achieve the required depth and that this will be reflected
in your mark.
LATE SUBMISSIONS AND PENALTIES
Unlike in Years 1 and 2, NO EXTENSIONS ARE GRANTED WITH RESPECT TO THE SUBMISSION
DEADLINES FOR ANY ASSESSED WORK At HONOURS LEVEL.
Managing deadlines is a basic life-skill that you are expected to have acquired by the time
you reach Honours. Timely submission of all assessed items (coursework, essays, project
reports, etc.) is a vitally important responsibility at this stage in your university career.
8
Unexcused lateness can put at risk your prospects of proceeding to Senior Honours and can
damage your final degree grade.
If you miss the submission deadline for any piece of assessed work 5 marks will be deducted
for each calendar day that work is late, up to a maximum of five calendar days (25 marks).
Thereafter, a mark of zero will be recorded. There is no grace period for lateness and
penalties begin to apply immediately following the deadline. For example, if the deadline is
Tuesday at 12 noon, work submitted on Tuesday at any time after 12 noon will be marked
as one day late, work submitted at any time after 12 noon on Wednesday will be marked as
two days late, and so on.
Failure to submit an item of assessed work will result in a mark of zero, with potentially very
serious consequences for your overall degree class, or no degree at all. It is therefore
always in your interest to submit work, even if very late.
Please be aware that all work submitted is returned to students with a provisional mark
and without applicable penalties in the first instance. The mark you receive on ELMA is
therefore subject to change following the consideration of the Lateness Penalty Waiver
Panel (please see below for further information) and the Board of Examiners.
How to Submit a Lateness Penalty Waiver Form
If there are extenuating circumstances beyond your control which make it essential for you
to submit work after the deadline you must fill in a ‘Lateness Penalty Waiver’ (LPW) form to
state the reason for your lateness. This is a request for any applicable penalties to be
removed and will be considered by the Lateness Penalty Waiver Panel.
Before submitting an LPW, please consider carefully whether your circumstances are (or
were) significant enough to justify the lateness. Such circumstances should be serious and
exceptional (e.g. not a common cold or a heavy workload). Computer failures are not
regarded as justifiable reason for late submission. You are expected to regularly back-up
your work and allow sufficient time for uploading it to ELMA.
You should submit the LPW form and supply an expected date of submission as soon as you
are able to do so, and preferably before the deadline. Depending on the circumstances,
supporting documentation may be required, so please be prepared to provide this where
possible.
LPW forms can be found in a folder outside your SSO’s office, on online at:
http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/undergrad/on_course_students/assessment_and_regulations/cou
rsework_requirements/coursework_requirements_honours
Forms should be returned by email or, if possible, in person to your SSO. They will sign the
form to indicate receipt and will be able to advise you if you would like further guidance or
support.
9
Please Note: Signing the LPW form by either your SSO or Personal Tutor only indicates
acknowledgment of the request, not the waiving of lateness penalties. Final decisions on all
marks rest with Examination Boards.
There is a dedicated SSO for students in each subject area in SPS. To find out who your SSO
is, and how to contact them, please find your home subject area on the table below:
Subject Area
Name of SSO
Email
Phone
Politics
Alex Solomon
Alex.Solomon@ed.ac.uk
0131 650
4253
International
Relations
Rebecca Shade rebecca.shade@ed.ac.uk
0131 651
3896
Social
Anthropology
Vanessa
Feldberg
vanessa.feldberg@ed.ac.
uk
0131 650
3933
Social Policy
Louise Angus
L.Angus@ed.ac.uk
0131 650
3923
Social Work
Jane Marshall
jane.marshall@ed.ac.uk
0131 650
3912
Sociology
Karen Dargo
Karen.Dargo@ed.ac.uk
0131 651
1306
Sustainable
Development
Sue Renton
sue.renton@ed.ac.uk
0131 650
6958
Office
Room 1.05,
Chrystal
MacMillan
Building
Room 1.05,
Chrystal
MacMillan
Building
Room 1.04,
Chrystal
MacMillan
Building
Room 1.08,
Chrystal
MacMillan
Building
Room 1.07,
Chrystal
MacMillan
Building
Room 1.03,
Chrystal
MacMillan
Building
Room 1.09,
Chrystal
MacMillan
Building
If you are a student from another School, you should submit your LPW to the SSO for the
subject area of the course, Vanessa Feldberg.
MARKING AND RETURN OF MARKED WORK
Essays will be marked by the course lecturers.
We undertake to return all coursework within 15 working days of submission. This time is
needed for marking, moderation, second marking and input of results. If there are any
unanticipated delays, it is the course organiser’s responsibility to inform you of the reasons.
10
PLAGIARISM GUIDANCE
Avoiding Plagiarism:
Material you submit for assessment, such as your essays, must be your own work. You can,
and should, draw upon published work, ideas from lectures and class discussions, and (if
appropriate) even upon discussions with other students, but you must always make clear
that you are doing so. Passing off anyone else’s work (including another student’s work or
material from the Web or a published author) as your own is plagiarism and will be
punished severely. When you upload your work to ELMA you will be asked to check a box
to confirm the work is your own. All submissions will be run through ‘Turnitin’, our
plagiarism detection software. Turnitin compares every essay against a constantly-updated
database, which highlights all plagiarised work. Assessed work that contains plagiarised
material will be awarded a mark of zero, and serious cases of plagiarism will also be
reported to the College Academic Misconduct officer. In either case, the actions taken will
be noted permanently on the student's record. For further details on plagiarism see the
Academic Services’ website:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/academicservices/students/undergraduate/discipline/plagiarism
DATA PROTECTION GUIDANCE FOR STUDENTS
In most circumstances, students are responsible for ensuring that their work with
information about living, identifiable individuals complies with the requirements of the Data
Protection Act. The document, Personal Data Processed by Students, provides an
explanation of why this is the case. It can be found, with advice on data protection
compliance and ethical best practice in the handling of information about living, identifiable
individuals, on the Records Management section of the University website at:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/records-management-section/dataprotection/guidance-policies/dpforstudents
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
The School welcomes disabled students with disabilities (including those with specific
learning difficulties such as dyslexia) and is working to make all its courses as accessible as
possible. If you have a disability special needs which means that you may require
adjustments to be made to ensure access to lectures, tutorials or exams, or any other aspect
of your studies, you can discuss these with your Student Support Officer or Personal Tutor
who will advise on the appropriate procedures.
You can also contact the Student Disability Service, based on the University of Edinburgh,
Third Floor, Main Library, You can find their details as well as information on all of the
support they can offer at: http://www.ed.ac.uk/student-disability-service
11
DISCUSSING SENSITIVE TOPICS
The discipline of Social Anthropology addresses a number of topics that some might find
sensitive or, in some cases, distressing. You should read this Course Guide carefully and if
there are any topics that you may feel distressed by you should seek advice from the course
convenor and/or your Personal Tutor.
For more general issues you may consider seeking the advice of the Student Counselling
Service, http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/student-counselling
REFERENCING AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
References and bibliography should follow the author-date system. For example, in the body
of an essay:




Single author’s quotation or idea referred to: (Smith 1989: 213)
Two authors, more than one page: (Johnson & Margolin 1990: 245 - 247)
Several authors: (Kennedy et al 1994: 156)
Citation of another author’s work in a secondary text: (Baxter 1982 cited in
Comaroff 1988: 16)
In your bibliography follow these guidelines:
For a book by one author:
Smith, J. G. 1989 The Anthropologist as Apprentice: Lessons from the Field., London:
Vertigo Press.
For two authors, a chapter in a book:
Johnson, M. & P. Margolin 1990 'Children at risk' In The Problems of Children on the
Streets in Brazil (ed) J Butterfield. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
For a journal article
Simpson, B. 1994 'Bringing the "unclear" family into focus: divorce and re-marriage in
contemporary Britain' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 29: 831-851.
Long quotations (more than 4 lines) should be indented with no quotation marks; shorter
quotations should be incorporated in the main text with single quotation marks. Author’s
name, etc., should appear at end of quote before the full stop.
For more information on the format of citations and bibliographic entries see:
http://www.citethemrightonline.com/#
Note: Registration for examinations is handled automatically by the University’s student
record system. You are, however, responsible for checking that the details against your own
name are correct. You should do this via the Edinburgh Student Portal around the third or
12
fourth week of semester 1 and advise your Student Support Officer if there are any
discrepancies.
4. Communications
If you have any problems, they should be taken first of all to the course organizer, Dr Alex
Nading. Messages for the organizer can be sent through email.
More serious personal problems are best dealt with by your Student Support Officer or
Personal Tutor, who will let us know, for example, if you have been ill or, for some other
serious reason, unable to keep up with the work for part of the course.
FEEDBACK
At the end of the course, we ask all students to fill in a questionnaire about the various lecture
blocks and other aspects of the course. We do hope you will take note of what you like and
dislike as the course progresses, and that you then take the time to share your experience
with us. We do our best to include your constructive suggestions into the program for
subsequent years.
5. Timetable, Course Outline and Readings
TIMETABLE
Date
15 January
22 January
29 January
5 February
12 February
19 February
26 February
4 March
11 March
18 March
25 March
1 April
COURSE OUTLINE
Topic
Politics and Social
Movements
Security and Violence
The City
Race and Ethnicity
Sexual Economies
INNOVATIVE LEARNING
WEEK—NO LECTURES
Beauty and Body Image
Syncretic Essences
Indigenous Issues
Latin America and the USA
Mediation
Revision Lecture
Lecturer
Alex Nading
Alex Nading
Alex Nading
Alex Nading
Maya Mayblin
Maya Mayblin
Maya Mayblin
Maya Mayblin
Alex Nading
Maya Mayblin
AN and MM
13
Lecture 1 (11/1): Politics and Social Movements (AN). Latin American anthropology is
distinguished by its attention to the breadth of women’s, environmental, and indigenous
movements that go beyond normal class or party politics. This lecture will introduce some
of these, as well as theoretical tools for exploring the “cultures of politics” in an era in which
states, NGOs, and social movements all exert different kinds of normative power.
Escobar, Arturo. 2008. Territories of Difference: Place, Movements, Life, Redes. Durham:
Duke University Press.
Escobar, Arturo. 2010. “Latin America at a Crossroads: Alternative Modernizations, PostLiberalism, or Post-Development?” Cultural Studies 24(1):1-65
Hetherington, Kregg. 2011. Guerilla Auditors: The Politics of Transparency in Neoliberal
Paraguay. Durham: Duke University Press.
*Hetherington, Kregg. 2013. “Beans Before the Law: Knowledge Practices, Responsibility,
and the Paraguayan Soy Boom.” Cultural Anthropology 28(1):65-85.
Paley, Julia. Marketing Democracy: Power and Social Movements in Post-Dictatorship Chile.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
*Paley, Julia. 2001. “The Paradox of Participation: Civil Society and Democracy in Chile.”
Political and Legal Anthropology Review 24.1.
Safa, H. 1990. Women’s Social Movements in Latin America. Gender and Society 4:354-369.
Stephen, Lynne. 1997. Women and Social Movements in Latin America: Power from Below.
Austin: University of Texas Press.
Yashar, Deborah. 2007. “Resistance and Identity Politics in an Age of Globalization,” The
ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 610(1): 160-181.
Lecture 2 (18/1): Security and Violence (AN). Latin America is popularly known as a region
of great political volatility. This lecture will consider theories about the varieties of forms
that violence can take, and how anthropological inquiry informs theories of violence,
conflict, and conciliation.
*Bourgois, Philippe. 2001. “The Power of Violence in War and Peace: Post-Cold War Lessons
from El Salvador,” Ethnography 2(1):5-34.
Goldstein, Daniel, et al. 2007. La Mano Dura and the Violence of Civil Society in Bolivia.
Social Analysis 51(2): 43-53.
Stephen, Lynne. 1997. Women and Social Movements in Latin America: Power from Below.
Austin: University of Texas Press.
14
Moodie, Ellen. 2010. El Salvador in the Aftermath of Peace: Crime, Uncertainty, and the
Transition to Democracy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
O’Neill, Kevin. 2010. “The Reckless Will: Prison Chaplaincy and the Problem of Mara
Salvatrucha,” Public Culture 22(1):67-88.
Rodgers, D. 2004. ‘Disembedding’ the City: Crime, Insecurity and Spatial Organization
in Managua, Nicaragua. Environment and Urbanization 16, no. 2: 113.
Robb-Larkins, Erika. 2015. The Spectacular Favela: Violence in Modern Brazil. Oakland:
University of California Press.
*Samet, Robert. 2013. The Photographer’s Body: Populism, Polarization, and the Uses of
Victimhood in Venezuela. American Ethnologist 40(3):525-539.
Lecture 3 (25/1): The City (AN). This lecture will explore how anthropologists study
urbanization in Latin America. Urban ethnographies will introduce students to the ways in
which anthropology theorises citizenship, segregation, risk, and economic precarity.
Auyero, Javier and Deborah Swiston. 2009. Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an
Argentine Shantytown. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Caldeira, Theresa. 1999. Fortified Enclaves: The New Urban Segregation. Public Culture 8:
303-328.
Caldeira, Theresa. 2000. City of Walls: Crime, Segregation and Citizenship in Sao
Paolo. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Goldstein, Daniel. 2012. Outlawed: Between Security and Rights in a Bolivian City.
Durham: Duke University Press.
Holston, James. 2009. Insurgent Citizenship: Disjunctions of Democracy and
Modernity in Brazil. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Millar, Kathleen. 2014. “The Precarious Present: Wageless Labor and Disrupted Life
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.” Cultural Anthropology 29(1): 32–53.
Shillington, Laura. 2013. “Right to Food, Right to the City: Household Urban
Agriculture, the Social-Ecological Production of Urban Space in Managua,
Nicaragua.” Geoforum 44 (1): 103-111.
Vargas, Joao Costa. 2006. “When a Favela Dared to Become a Gated Condominium:
The Politics of Race and Urban Space in Rio de Janiero” Latin American
Perspectives 33: 49-81.
15
*Zeiderman, Austin. 2013. Living Dangerously: Biopolitics and Urban Citizenship in
Bogota, Colombia American Ethnologist 40(1):71-87.
Lecture 4 (1/2): Race and Ethnicity (AN). This lecture will consider the social and cultural
construction of racial categories in Latin America. Drawing on examples from multiethnic
societies, particularly those of the Andes, the lecture will use historical and ethnographic
material to help students grasp the ways in which these general concepts (race and
ethnicity) come to be embodied in Latin America.
Alonso, A-M., 2004, ‘Conforming Discontinuity: Mestizje, Hybridity and the Aesthetics of
Mexican Nationalism’, Cultural Anthropology 19:459-490.
Anderson, Mark. 2009. Black and Indigenous: Garifuna Activism and Consumer Culture in
Honduras. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
*de la Cadena, Marisol. 2005 Are Mesitzos Hybrids? The Conceptual Politics of Andean
Identities. Journal of Latin American Studies 37(2):259-284.
Goldstein, Donna. 2013. Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, and Sexuality in
a Rio Shantytown. 2nd Ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Mallon, F, 1996, Constructing mestizaje in Latin America: authenticity, marginality, a gender
in the claiming of ethnic identities. Journal of Latin American Anthropology, 2(1):170181.
*Roberts, Elizabeth. 2012. Assisted Whiteness, IN God’s Laboratory: Assisted Reproduction
in the Andes. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Roland, Kaifa. 2013. “T/Racing Belonging through Cuban Tourism,” Cultural Anthropology
28(3): 396-419.
Saldívar E. 2011. Everyday Practices of Indigenismo: An Ethnography of Anthropology and
the State in Mexico. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 16 (1):
67-89.
Wade, P. 2005, Rethinking Mestizaje: Ideology and Lived Experience. Journal of Latin
American Studies, 37: 239
Lecture 5 (8/2): Sexual Economies (MM).
This lecture will explore manifestations of sex, gender and sexuality across the region, and
trace some debates concerning Latin America as a hyper-sexualised continent, and favourite
destination for sex tourism.
16
*Cohen, Roseann. 2014. Extractive Desires: The Moral Control of Female Sexuality at
Colombia's Gold Mining Frontier. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean
Anthropology, 19(2): 260-279.
Goldstein, Donna. 1999. Interracial Sex and Racial Democracy in Brazil: Twin Concepts?
American Anthropologist, 101(3): 563-578.
Howe, C. Intimate Activism: The Struggle for Sexual Rights in Postrevolutionary Nicaragua
Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Kulick, Don. 1998. Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered
Prostitutes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kulick, Don. 1997. A Man in the house. The boyfriends of barazilian Travesti Prostitutes.
Social Text, 52: 133-160.
*Mitchell, Gregory. 2011.TurboConsumers™ in paradise: Tourism, civil rights, and Brazil's
gay sex industry. American Ethnologist, 38(4): 666 - 682.
15 -19 FEBRUARY, INNOVATIVE LEARNING WEEK, NO LECTURES
Lecture 6 (22/2): Beauty and Body Image (MM)
Following on from last session’s discussion of sexual economies, this lecture will look at
some recent ethnographies of body image and aesthetic practices. Why are beauty
pageants so popular across the region? How does physical beauty disrupt or intersect with
other social hierarchies?
*Edmonds, Alexander. 2007. 'The Poor Have the Right to be Beautiful': Cosmetic Surgery
in Neoliberal Brazil. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13(2): 363-381.
Caldwell, Kia Lilly. 2003. "Look at Her Hair": The Body Politics of Black Womanhood in Brazil.
Transforming Anthropology, 11(2): 18-29.
Edmonds, Alexander. 2010. Pretty Modern: Beauty, Sex, and Plastic Surgery in Brazil. Duke
University Press.
Edmonds, Alexander. 2009. Learning to Love Yourself: Esthetics, Health, and Therapeutics in
Brazilian Plastic Surgery. Ethnos, 74(4): 465-489.
Jarrin, Alvaro. 2013. Favela Models: Sexual Virtue and Hopeful Narratives of Beauty in Brazil.
In Girls’ Sexualities and the Media. Mediated Youth Series. (Eds.)Harper, Katsulis, Lopez,
& Scheiner Gillis. Peter Lang.
Rogers, Mark. 1998. Spectacular Bodies: Folklorization and the Politics of Identity in
Ecuadorian Beauty Pageants. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology,
3(2): 54 – 85.
17
* Schackt, Jon. 2005. Mayahood Through Beauty: Indian Beauty Pageants in Guatemala.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 24(3): 269-287.
Wroblewski, Michael. 2014. Public Indigeneity, Language Revitalization, and Intercultural
Planning in a Native Amazonian Beauty Pageant. American Anthropologist, 116(1), 6580.
Ochoa, Marcia. 2014. Queen For a Day: Transformistas, Beauty Queens, and the
Performance of Femininity in Venezuela. Duke University Press.
Lecture 7 (29/2): Syncretic essences: the politics of purity and mixture (MM)
If Latin America is famous for racial and cultural ‘mixture,’ what are the politics of mixture,
past and present? In this lecture we will explore how people in Latin America actively
combine elements of indigenous American, African, and European spiritual traditions and
the theoretical debates this has given rise to.
*MacKenzie, James. 2009. Judas off the Noose: Sacerdotes Mayas, Costumbristas, and the
Politics of Purity in the Tradition of San Simón in Guatemala. Journal of Latin
American and Caribbean Anthropology, 14(2): 355- 381.
Beatty, Andrew. 2006. The Pope in Mexico: Syncretism in Public Ritual. American
Anthropologist, 108(2): 324-335.
Brown, Diana & Mario Bick. 1987. Religion, class, and context: continuities and
discontinuities in Brazilian Umbanda. American Ethnologist, 14(1): 73-93.
*Orta, Andrew. 1999. Syncretic Subjects and Body Politics: Doubleness, Personhood, and
Aymara Catechists. American Ethnologist, 26(4): 864-889.
Selka, Stephen. 2008. The Sisterhood of Boa Morte in Brazil: Harmonious Mixture, Black
Resistance, and the Politics of Religious Practice. Journal of Latin American and
Caribbean Anthropology, 13(1): 79- 114.
Stewart, Charles & Rosalind Shaw. 1994. “Introduction” in Syncretism/anti-syncretism: The
Politics of Religious Synthesis. London: Routledge.
Lecture 8 (7/3): Indigenous Issues (MM)
Indigenous issues pose a serious issue to political stakeholders across Latin American. This
lecture will touch on some debates and issues regarding indigeneity that have made it into
mainstream spheres, including questions of ethnicity, authenticity, land rights and so on.
*Canessa, Andrew. 2007. Who Is Indigenous? Self-Identification, Indigeneity, And Claims to
Justice In Contemporary Bolivia. Urban Anthropology, 36(3): 14-48.
Bessire, Lucas. 2014. Behold the Black Caiman: A Chronicle of Ayoreo Life. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Brondo, Keri Vacanti. 2010. When Mestizo Becomes (Like) Indio … or is it Garífuna?:
Multicultural Rights and “Making Place” on Honduras' North Coast. Journal of Latin
American and Caribbean Anthropology, 15(1): 170 – 194.
18
Canessa, Andrew. 2010. Intimate Indigeneities: Race, Sex, and History in the Small Spaces of
Andean Life. Duke University Press.
High, C. Lost and Found: Contesting isolation and cultivating contact in Amazonian
Ecuador.Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 3(3): 195-221.
Goodale, Mark. 2006. Reclaiming modernity: Indigenous cosmopolitanism and the coming
of the second revolution in Bolivia. American Ethnologist, 33(4): 634 – 649.
Metz, Brent. 2010. Questions of Indigeneity and the (Re)-Emergent Ch'orti' Maya of
Honduras. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 15(2): 289 – 316.
*Norget, Kristin. 2010. A Cacophony of Autochthony: Representing Indigeneity in Oaxacan
Popular Mobilization. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 15(1):
116 – 143.
Postero, Nancy. 2013. Negogitating Indigeneity. Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic
Studies, 8(2): 107-121.
Lecture 9 (14/3): Latin America and the United States (AN). Given the intensity of
transmigration, as well as the outsized military and economic influence of the region’s
northern neighbour, Latin American culture is unavoidably influenced by North American
culture. But the reverse is also true. This lecture will show how flows of people and ideas
across the US-Mexico border have changed over time, with specific discussion of economic
neoliberalization and the effects of transmigration on families, media, and identities.
*De León, Jason. 2015. “Prevention through Deterrence,” IN The Land of Open Graves:
Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail. Oakland: University of California Press.
de León, Jason. 2015. The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail.
Oakland: University of California Press.
Germano, Roy. 2009. The Other Side of Immigration. (Film).
Gomberg-Munoz, R. Willing to Work: Agency and Vulnerability in an Undocumented
Immigrant Network. American Anthropologist 112(2):295-307.
Grandin, Greg. 2007. Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of
the New Imperialism. New York: Owl Books.
Gregory, Stephen. 2006. The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the
Dominican Republic. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hartigan, John. Translating “race” and “raza” between the United States and Mexico,” North
American Dialogues, 16 (1): 32-45, 2013.
Holmes, Seth. 2013. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
19
*Horton, Sarah. 2008. Consuming Childhood: “Lost” and “Ideal” Childhoods as a Motivation
for Migration. Anthropological Quarterly 81(4): 925-943.
Reichman, D. 2011. Migration and Paraethnography in Honduras. American Ethnologist
38(3): 548-558.
Reichman, D. The Broken Village: Coffee, Migration, and Globalization in Honduras. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press.
Lecture 10 (21/3): Mediation and Popular Culture (MM).
Like anywhere else, Latin America is highly ‘mediated’ and popular culture occupies a
powerful place. What is peculiar about Brazil’s televisual industry? How have Latin American
publics constructed themselves through media technologies past and present?
*Van De Port, Mattijs. 2006. Visualizing the sacred: Video technology, “televisual” style, and
the religious imagination in Bahian candomblé. American Ethnologist, 33(3): 444 – 461.
Ashley, Jennifer. 2014. Prime-time politics: News, parody, and fictional credibility in Chile.
American Ethnologist, 41(4): 757-770.
Dent, Alexander. 2011. Piracy, circulatory legitimacy and neoliberal subjectivity in Brazil.
Cultural Anthropology 27 (1): 28-49
Dent, Alexander. 2009. River of Tears: Country Music, Memory, and Modernity in Brazil.
Duke Univ. Press.
*Howe, Cymene. 2008. Spectacles of Sexuality: Televisionary Activism in Nicaragua. Cultural
Anthropology, 23(1): 48-84.
Moodie, Ellen. 2009. Wretched Bodies, White Marches, and the CuatroVisión Public in El
Salvador. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 14(2): 382-404.
Ochoa Gautier AM. 2006. Sonic transculturation, epistemologies of purification and the
aural public sphere in Latin America. Soc. Ident. 12(6):803–25
Pace, Richard. 2009. Television's Interpellation: Heeding, Missing, Ignoring, and Resisting the
Call for Pan-National Identity in the Brazilian Amazon. American Anthropologist, 111(4):
407-419.
Schiller, Naomi. 2013. Reckoning with press freedom: Community media, liberalism, and the
processual state in Caracas, Venezuela. American Ethnologist, 40(3): 540-554.
Lecture 11 (28/3): Revision Lecture (MM/AN)
6. Suggested Book List
Anderson, Mark. 2009. Black and Indigenous: Garifuna Activism and Consumer Culture in
Honduras. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Auyero, Javier and Deborah Swiston. 2009. Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an
Argentine Shantytown. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
20
Bessire, Lucas. 2014. Behold the Black Caiman: A Chronicle of Ayoreo Life. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Caldeira, Theresa. 2000. City of Walls: Crime, Segregation and Citizenship in Sao
Paolo. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Canessa, Andrew. 2010. Intimate Indigeneities: Race, Sex, and History in the Small Spaces of
Andean Life. Duke University Press.
de León, Jason. 2015. The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail.
Oakland: University of California Press.
Dent, Alexander. 2009. River of Tears: Country Music, Memory, and Modernity in Brazil.
Duke Univ. Press.
Edmonds, Alexander. 2010. Pretty Modern: Beauty, Sex, and Plastic Surgery in Brazil. Duke
University Press.
Escobar, Arturo. 2008. Territories of Difference: Place, Movements, Life, Redes. Durham:
Duke University Press.
Goldstein, Daniel. 2012. Outlawed: Between Security and Rights in a Bolivian City.
Durham: Duke University Press.
Goldstein, Donna. 2013. Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, and Sexuality in
a Rio Shantytown. 2nd Ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Grandin, Greg. 2007. Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of
the New Imperialism. New York: Owl Books.
Gregory, Stephen. 2006. The Devil Behind the Mirror: Globalization and Politics in the
Dominican Republic. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hetherington, Kregg. 2011. Guerilla Auditors: The Politics of Transparency in Neoliberal
Paraguay. Durham: Duke University Press.
Holston, James. 2009. Insurgent Citizenship: Disjunctions of Democracy and
Modernity in Brazil. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Howe, Cymene. Intimate Activism: The Struggle for Sexual Rights in Postrevolutionary
Nicaragua Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Kulick, Don. 1998. Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered
Prostitutes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Moodie, Ellen. 2010. El Salvador in the Aftermath of Peace: Crime, Uncertainty, and the
Transition to Democracy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Ochoa, Marcia. 2014. Queen For a Day: Transformistas, Beauty Queens, and the
Performance of Femininity in Venezuela. Duke University Press.
Paley, Julia. Marketing Democracy: Power and Social Movements in Post-Dictatorship Chile.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Reichman, D. The Broken Village: Coffee, Migration, and Globalization in Honduras. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press.
Robb-Larkins, Erika. 2015. The Spectacular Favela: Violence in Modern Brazil. Oakland:
University of California Press.
Roberts, Elizabeth. God’s Laboratory: Assisted Reproduction in the Andes. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
Stephen, Lynne. 1997. Women and Social Movements in Latin America: Power from Below.
Austin: University of Texas Press.
21
Stephen, Lynne. 1997. Women and Social Movements in Latin America: Power from Below.
Austin: University of Texas Press.